The Johns Hopkins University's impressive financial commitment to recruit more minority and female faculty members is a welcome recognition that higher education has to try just as hard to diversify faculty as it does to diversify the student body. But increasing the ranks of minority professors at any given campus can't be accomplished by simply recycling the existing pool. Recruitment efforts must also focus on making the academy more inviting as a career choice.
Nationally, about 52,700 doctoral degrees were awarded in 2004-2005. Only about 14 percent were given to minorities, including 5.5 percent to African-Americans, 5 percent to Asian-Americans and 3 percent to Hispanics. The numbers have been increasing over the past decade, but there has also been greater competition from the private sector for highly trained minorities.
Through the Mosaic Initiative, Hopkins will provide $5 million over five years to attract female and minority professors to its nine schools. The money should help tip the balance by covering salaries or helping to fund research of established and promising scholars. A similar program was successful at Duke and is being pursued by Stanford and other universities.
